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A newborn manatee and its mother were rescued north of Goodland late Thursday afternoon and taken to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa for rehabilitation.

The two manatees had superficial boat strike wounds, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission marine research biologist Denise Boyd said today.

She said Conservation Commission marine patrol officer found the manatees about 4 p.m. Thursday and called rescuers from the Conservation Commission in Port Charlotte, who retrieved the manatees with help from Conservation Commission workers in St. Petersburg, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The baby manatee, about 69 pounds, is thought to be only days old; the mother manatee weighed more than 1,600 pounds. The mother is not eating, and the baby is in critical condition at the zoo's manatee hospital, zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson said. She said the baby manatee is having trouble submerging to be able to nurse.

The two manatees are the second and third to be rescued from Collier County so far this year. Earlier this month, a young manatee was rescued from a drainage ditch at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.